


A Necessary Evil

by 30SecondGoat



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Character Thoughts, Gen, Stream of Consciousness, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-21 20:25:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20699360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/30SecondGoat/pseuds/30SecondGoat
Summary: Stuck on Vampa, light years away from everything he once knew, Paragus reflects on his predicament, and justifies the terrible things he's done to survive.





	A Necessary Evil

Years… how many years had they been on this planet? It had begun to feel like a lifetime; a lifetime of pain, hunger, and loneliness. Every day the sun beat down on their home, relentless in its heat. With no running water, the moisture from the planet’s parasite-like bugs was the only hydration they were afforded. The nights were freezing, with wind storms ripping across the desert landscape and chilling them both to the bone. They shouldn’t have survived.

Saiyans are resilient, if nothing else. Paragus learned quickly that he could go without more than a few meals, powered by nothing more than his own determination and a deep, boiling rage. Rage at King Vegeta, who had so callously given his son a death warrant. For the ship, breaking down and stranding them on the repugnant rock. For the planet itself, mocking them with parodies of life, while giving them nothing with which to hold on to. And rage at himself for allowing any and all of it to happen.

He should have set the ship down somewhere else, somewhere further from the storm. Beets had suggested it, of course, but his own paranoia and urgency had thrown caution to the wind. Perhaps Broly would have been okay, perhaps not. There hadn’t been any way to know. And yet…

He did not find pleasure in killing Beets. The unfortunate Saiyan had done nothing to deserve death aside from being in the ship when he’d taken it. The man’s last pleading look had fallen on cold eyes; he couldn’t afford to be kind. Not when there was so little food to survive on. Broly had never known about Beets, or where the meat that had sustained them in those first weeks had suddenly come from. There was no reason to tell.

Their only chance at survival was for Broly to do exactly as he said, and he didn’t have the luxury of allowing his son to learn by trial and error. If mistakes had been made, they would die. The shock collar was a necessary evil, and the first time he’d used it, he’d almost broken down. The pain and look of fear and hurt on his son’s face wrenched at his heart, but he clamped down. It was necessary. If Broly lost control and killed him, then everything would be for naught. His son, his beautiful, powerful son, would die alone on a forgotten planet. Paragus refused to let that happen. He must survive, in order to ensure that Broly escaped. In order to see his son take revenge on the monster that had banished them. It was Broly’s purpose, his birthright! Even if his son was too young to understand, Paragus knew it in his heart. And so the collar stayed, and the tail was removed, and every other trace of compassion and warmth disappeared.

Paragus was prepared for his son to hate him. He was even prepared for Broly to kill him someday, and he would hold no ill-will. But not until their mission, their purpose, was fulfilled. Not until King Vegeta lay dead at their feet would he allow himself to die. 

In time, the shocks affected him less and less. Broly’s cries went unanswered, and the coldness settled in him that even the hot sun of Vampa couldn’t melt. Their revenge became his; their desire was his alone. Broly spoke less and less, until “Yes, Father” was the only phrase he ever heard anymore. Like the gun he’d used to kill Beets, his son had become the tool he would use to enact his revenge. It was all he had anymore.

Two months later, with terror welling within him as Frieza pointed a glowing finger at his chest, a small part of him noticed that they were almost a mirror image of when he’d killed Beets. Another death to assure the strength of his weapon.

His son.

And then it was over.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all.
> 
> So, before I get people crashing down my door and calling me an abuse supporter: I am in no way saying that Paragus was a good guy, or that he should have done what he did. But he felt completely justified in his actions, and in his own eyes he was guiltless by the end. Necessary Evil and the Ends Justify the Means type of guy.
> 
> Gray morality is something I love playing with, and this is a great example: someone who became despicable because he believed he had to in order for his son to survive. Anyways, hope you enjoyed, and let me know what you thought.


End file.
